On December 26th, 2015 in Shanghai, China at the Oriental Sports Center, ROAD FC 27 went down to a packed arena. All four quarterfinal matches in the 8-man openweight tournament ended in a knockout, Zhang Lipeng made an impressive promotional debut, and Zhao Zilong made quick work of “Minowaman”.

Zhang Lipeng chokes out Hong Young-Ki

ROAD FC 27 – Zhang Lipeng chokes Hong Young-Ki

The fight started off with Hong looking to keep Zhang at a distance with kicks but on the second front kick the Chinese fighter grabbed a leg and then clinched to eventually drag it to the ground. Landing in half guard, he kept working to move into mount and Hong was holding on to prevent this from happening. As a result, the referee gave Hong a blue card, which deducts 2 points for stalling on the ground, and they restarted on the feet. However, the confusing part is that Zhang had a dominant position and was working to improve himself so why would they restart on an equal plane. Looks like the rules have a loop hole that the promotion needs to address as soon as possible.

Once they did engage again, it was not long until Zhang was able to climb onto Hong’s back off a scramble. After hand fighting for about a minute, Zhang was able to lock in a rear-naked choke and the tap came as they were falling down.

Zhang Lipeng (13-9) wins his debut for the promotion and breathes some life into the lightweight division. He is on a 4-fight winning streak and is a big enough name to promote for an immediate title shot against the current champion Kwon A-Sol who has been on the shelf since last March.

These two fighters spent the first few minutes dancing around each other eventually leading to “Minowaman” getting a blue card, a deduction of two points, for failing to engage. Right after that, the Japanese ran in with his hands down and Zhao zipped a straight right to the jaw. In all kinds of trouble, “Minowaman” spun on the ground in a circle a few times trying to avoid the punches of the “Dragon Fighter”, ultimately, getting to his feet.

Soon after, Zhao threw his adversary to the ground and commenced to pounding on him like dough. “Minowaman” just covered up with no effort to get back up so the referee jumped in to stop the fight.

This makes it three in a row for Zhao Zilong (10-3). Since ROAD FC does not have many LHW fighters on the roster, it will be a mystery to who and when he will fight next. A possibility is that he can move up to heavyweight and challenge some of those giants with his speed and precision striking.

8-Man Openweight Tournament Quarterfinals

Luo quits, “Techno Goliath” Choi Hong-Man wins

ROAD FC 27 – Choi Hong-Man and LuoRight off the bat, Luo blasts off with a couple right hands that push the Korean into the cage but Choi did connect with a few counters of his own that bloodied the young Chinese fighter. Even though they clinched against the fence, no action between the two had them separated and start back in the center.

For the next minute or so, they clinch again along the cage hugging each other without much offense being displayed. Then, Herb Dean breaks them up and Luo has his back to Choi. Herb asks him a few times if he wants to continue but decides to quit on his feet. An odd ending to the main event of the evening.

Choi Hong-Man (3-4) gets back in the win column after being knocked out by Carlos Toyota at ROAD FC 24.

Choi Mu-Bae is no match for “Mighty Mo” AGAIN

ROAD FC 27 – “Mighty Mo” defeats Choi Mu-Bae

“Mighty Mo” controlled the cage from the onset of the first round with Choi looking to counter. When they first locked up “Mighty Mo” was looking for the takedown but Choi defended and reversed to land a couple of punches.

In their second exchange, the American connected with a flurry looking to drop Choi but it was more of a slip since he popped back up immediately.

The final sequence began with “Mighty Mo” throwing left and right bombs consecutively while Choi was running backwards. A left hook crumbled Choi and he was on all over the place trying to get up. Eventually, Siliga finished Choi on the cage with about ten unanswered punches to the face.

This is the second straight win against Choi Mu-Bae for “Mighty Mo” (8-5). He moves on as the favorite to win the openweight tourney.

On the first engagement, Myung threw a combination that missed then followed Liang immediately to the cage and clinched and connected with a couple of knees. After the right knee landed flush, “The Iron Gentleman” blasted Liang with a left hook that crumbled him to the mat.

Myung Hyun-Man (3-1) has made it three in a row and all by knockout. His only loss was a disqualification a year ago at Revolution 2. He seems to be hitting his prime and dispatching everyone in his way, therefore, looks to be the dark horse in the tournament.

Aorigele punches a hole through Kim Jae-Hoon

ROAD FC 27 – Aorigele blasts Kim Jae-Hoon

From the beginning, Kim rushed in swinging with looping punches but Aorigele countered with a left hook and dropped Kim to the mat. The Korean scrambled back up while getting bashed in the face and then missed with a big looping right. Aorigele countered again with a right uppercut and Kim fell down on the fence. The Chinese mammoth jumped on top and threw down blow after blow. After the ref went in to stop the fight, Aorigele did not quit and continued punching but with a little effort Herb Dean was able to get him off the other fighter.

When the cage doors opened, Kwon A-Sol, current ROAD FC lightweight champion and teammate of Kim Jae-Hoon, rushed in and gave Aorigele a shove. This caused a little skirmish in the cage that required basically all the referees to extinguish.

Aorigele (2-1) earns his second professional win by knockout just like his first. He will most likely move on to face Choi Hong-Man or Myung Hyun-Man in the next round.

UPCOMING (ON TAPOLOGY)

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